The Theater: Pick of the London Season

Traditionally a parched period for Broadway, summer is the most fertile
time of year for the London stage. American tourists crowd the city and
producers pump new life into old attractions and unveil choice new
ones. The most successful plays usually migrate to the U.S. Following
is a current British sampler:

A Proper Despair

Palm fronds hang listlessly overhead.
A houseboy insolently serves up rum to old colonials. The veranda glares
in the kind of heat that rots wood and souls.

A promisingly seedy setting for John Osborne's latest play, which opened
last week...